The few minutes after a Punchdrunk show are often as thrilling as the piece itself, as the audience comes together again to share stories of what occurred and discover that they have all experienced different versions of the same show. So it proves in this latest piece: not the high profile Dr Who-themed, The Crash of the Elysium, currently part of the Manchester international festival, but a little bit of a beautiful thing happening in east London as part of the company's enrichment programme of working with communities.

Inspired by Charles Dickens's nocturnal wanderings around the Victorian East End, and taking the form of a downloadable headphone walk around the area followed by a 25-minute live performance in a former shop provided by Art in Empty Spaces, the piece has been made over a year-long period working with the Arcola's 50+ theatre group. Each of the 15 performers have created their own monologue, offering up stories on the hard benches of a soup kitchen where soup is provided for all-comers – including the audience – and then taking us to the basement, where secrets are revealed.

The fact that you can only experience one story at a time means this is a titbit rather than a blow-out, but there is something about the way you can hear the murmur of other stories being told that helps to create a sense of a patchwork of 19th-century London life, conjuring a complete world where Miss Havisham-style brides are jilted, the ayahs of the British Raj abandoned, babies murdered, and William Blake whispers of immortality offer comfort to a man with a gnawing conscience.